Blog

Going backward, the night ended on early Sunday morning with me arriving in Air Volvo after 1AM from Portland. I took my pills and just collapsed in bed. The drive back was a bit hard when it got to be so late. However, the rains had halted, and there was no rain until Monday, so the roads were easier to drive than I expected.

I had come from Kathleen’s house in Milwaukee as I dropped her off after playing at Richard’s house. We three, Richard, Kathleen, and I, met at 6PM to play board games at Richard’s Portland home. This is my usual Saturday night routine: head to Richard’s and play a few board games. I used to play more often, but with the changes in Susie’s condition, I do not feel safe scheduling more than a few games a week, and with the blog, seeing Susie every day, and working for a living, there is just not enough time to fit in more board game play.

Tonight we went for mad games. We first played my copy of Cthulhu Wars, finally getting it out after years and enjoying the insanely huge pieces and rules that simply are mere guidelines as the game keeps breaking all the rules. Kathleen, naturally pedantic–her own assessment, had to embrace chaos playing the Creeping Chaos. Richard played the Black Goat and started spawning everywhere. I played Cthulu and just wanted to devour and kill everyone. My master gaming friends, for Halloween, had to embrace their inner child to play with the massive pieces and their inner cultist to join in with the theme. And the Creeping Chaos and Black Goat made an alliance and beat the crap out of Cthulu, rightfully so, and managed to win the game. Kathleen scored the highest, but their cultists can argue that for all eternity, both won according to the rules.

Cthulhu Wars is a five-year-old game filled with giant pieces and a crowded map. A player plays a faction and usually (there are exceptions to everything) has a Lovecraftian Great One, including Hastar, Cthulhu, and other of the Mytho’s great hits. Your cultists give your faction power, the currency of the game, and you have a magical gate to summon, now that the stars are right, horrors from the worlds of Lovecraft. Spells books, unique powers, game interrupts, and built-in rule-breaking are features of the game. It plays three to whatever expansion count you bought (going to nine (!) if you bought that add-on). I would not recommend the endless add-ons, and the game is costly (with its ten-inch tall models), but if you can find a cheap copy–it is the only totally themed game I have played that even breaks its own rules for the theme.

Next, staying mad, we played Wonderland Wars. I picked Alice this time. Kathleen was the smiling cat, and Richard was the Mad Hatter. This is a resource management and placement game with a showdown mechanism. You collect resources at the Tea Party and then use them to fight over Wonderland’s various locations. You can call in an endless number of randomly available characters from the stories to help you in the battles. The system is mad as it uses a bag of pulled tokens from your bag of resources–you don’t pick. Richard crushed us, and I lost to Kathleen by a few points. Next time!

There is a new Kickstarter for Wonderland Wars, and for $180, I could get this mad game in all of its deluxe glory. ‘Curiouser and curiouser.’ I enjoy playing it, but so far, I think I will enjoy Richard’s copy. I am not ready to paint more figures.

Here I will break the narrative to cover some items I received today. I received more figures from a Kickstarter: The Arcane Academics figures from Pulp Figures of Canada. These are a set of 1920s-styled 28mm figures with a hint toward movie versions of professors and include a grail setting and a Crowley figure. I also received my plant book for role-playing systems from Exalted Funeral: Hernalist’s Primer. This even comes with a system-neutral role-playing adventure focused on plants. Nice to see some things break through the logistic issues.

Returning to our story, before heading to Portland to go mad playing mad games, I was with Evan playing a less mad board game, except I lost, which is maddening, Scythe at The 649 taphouse in Aloha, Oregon. I played the Scotts, and Evan went for the Norse, and he crushed me. I could not get the production to work efficiently and soon fell behind. Next time.

Scythe is a steampunk 1900s game themed in an alternative history where WW1 never happened, and Tesla (not the cars) discovers an alternative power source that runs a steampunk-like technology revolution. The game is 4x, so everyone is against each other, rushing to build up as fast and efficiently as possible. It is a fav.

At The 649, I had soup and then shared a charcuterie board with Evan. I stayed with one beer as I had to play mad games in the evening–I would have to teach the insanity of Cthulhu Wars, so it was best to limit my drinking to one beer.

Before this, Evan met Susie and me at the Washington Square Mall. It was still damp and threatening to rain, so Susie agreed that the mall would be a better choice for today. I had loaded Susie into Air Volvo. Susie did not stand for me, so I did most of the carrying. It was better when she got out of the car.

Susie seemed to enjoy the different experiences in the mall. She picked out some flowers to take back with her (which we forgot and are still in Air Volvo) and enjoyed some ice cream and a sip of a cider product. I took her to the second floor’s food court and got myself a hot dog and ice cream for Susie. We watch some of Oregon against UCLA American football game in a little beer garden area. Evan found us as we finished up the light snack for Susie.

We toured the mall and enjoyed the sights. I stopped at a cooking store, resisted a new cookbook and supplies for cooking, and turned away from all the naked cookware. So shiny! French, American, or stainless is everywhere. Resist!

Susie was still showing exhaustion from the flu shot, I think. She was reticent but enjoyed the ice cream.

Before this, I started as usual on a Saturday by writing the blog from Friday and having a banana with some croissant loaf and liberal coffee.

I was also contacted by a long-lost relative from the Bell family. Andrew Bell is a distant cousin (using that word loosely) from another line of my family. He was interested if I was his relative–I went to his parent’s wedding (I think), yes, and if I had information on the vaudeville acts of the 1920s. I do. He has some of the stuff too. We agreed to connect more soon. More to come on that.

Thank you for reading.

 

 

I was tired Friday and slept in until 8ish. Friday is a work-from-home day, and I also do laundry in the morning. There is only me, so it is usually one mixed load.

I was amazed that the no-meeting policy for the program had finally started to take hold; I had no meetings!

I finally got to some things at work I had not been able to find some time to learn and do. I had to start using Office.COM instead of using the faulty copy installed on my laptop. This I looked to as a challenge and might be how I remain working.

The air was improved; the rains started as everyone across the Greater Portland area collectively screamed, “Yes!” Winds from the ocean pushed the lousy air away over the day, and the rains became gray and heavy–just like they are supposed to be. It rained about an inch. Usually, and with the current state of climate changes, who knows, once the rain starts, we have rain every day until into summer. We always welcome the gray. Early this year, the rains left early in June.

The air is safe and clear if damp.

Work continued on with some crises of the moment. I had a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch, using the fine German-style ham from the German Deli in Metzger, and my usual banana and a scone (store-bought) for breakfast with liberal coffee.

The rain was starting now, moving passed the Oregon Mist stage, and we were in for a soaking. I decided not to try Coopers Mountain in the first rain. I will let the rains wash the oil off the road without me. I saw a half dozen police along the way.

I reached the hummingbird house without incident and saw some imaginative driving from the Beaverton traffic. I managed to avoid any contact. Beaverton driving with all the construction forcing folks into local roads and having to follow sudden lane changes is a bit stressed out. On the other hand, I was in the post-lunch traffic, which is lighter.

Susie and the whole hummingbird house folks were a bit sedate. The flu and Covid-19 shots had everyone running a bit slower, including Jennifer, their nurse aide for today. Susie was sleepy in her recliner.

We called Leta, Susie’s mother, and Susie, and she chatted for a while on my iPhone using FaceTime. It was raining, and the rain increased its intensity, which meant a pass on the park today. So I stayed for a while just to sit with Susie, and then I left with a kiss and took Air Volvo home.

I crossed Beaverton using Allan to avoid Old Town Beaverton and found even more police patrolling the streets. I reached the Volvo Cave without issue. The rain was getting heavy now, and the last bits under the trees were starting to get wet.

I went outside to look at the roses and take some pictures.

 

The English rose, Wedgwood, is still blooming full out.

The Japanese-style rose is also looking good in the rain.

I continued to work online and tried to work out some issues with the next significant upgrade. Mostly read and tried to understand some documentation online.

I wanted to use up some more food in the freezer. I found some stew beef frozen, and I defrosted that in some water while I worked. I salted and peppered the meat and roasted it for a few hours. I added some wine later, which is not recommended (messy). I boiled the large pasta tube and heated a sauce from a jar. I cut the hot meat into pieces and added the pieces to the sauce. I combined it all, reminding me of ravioli without the meat inside when I stirred it together.

I finished the last of a leftover Ceasar salad and heated some french bread to go with it. I ate that while entering season three of Lucifer on NetFlix. I learned this is the season after the show was canceled and brought back on a different network.

I used the cookware from Gene and Glenda to store the leftovers. I spoke to Gene and Glenda on the phone and wished Gene a happy birthday.

I then rested after having some breathing issues. My allergies were back. I used my inhaler, and I was better in a few minutes. Next, I made a pot of tea and stayed up past 11 writing my new Dungeons and Dragons adventure. Finishing off two encounters and starting on another. The tea helped with breathing and the work.

At about midnight, I went to bed and only woke once to prove how much tea I had drunk.

Thanks for reading.

I knew it would be a crazy day, and I was tempted to just throw in the towel, stay home, and hide under the covers. But I had a few meetings I should attend, and Susie needed me. So I struggled with the bad air, the headache, and coughing and started to rush my morning. Then deciding the air was too awful for me, and I emailed my boss to this effect; I would come to work in the afternoon after the winds had cleared some of the smoke/smog/mist.

The first Zoom meeting was an all-hands meeting with the CEO–he was playing to a small crowd in the new theater in Serina William’s building on campus. The presentations were good, and some had strong emotional content. I listened to most of it. The crowd got a Nike Forward hoodie for coming to the live version.

Next, taking them slowly, I did some status meetings. I also asked the usual questions based on the topic of meetings in the afternoon. I prefer that we have questions answered before the meeting to frame what we need to do–this did not happen.

I was ready towards noon as I had a lunch meeting, but first, I needed to finish a few critical path tasks that did not get done yesterday. I stopped by Safeway nearby and got some Ensure drinks for Susie (Plus versions in strawberry and chocolate flavors). Then, I headed towards lunch by way of Best Buy. The big box store is still impressive, with an insane inventory level. I asked the helpful store person in front for an uninterruptible battery supply (UPS) and got a blank stare. I tried battery backup, and that got a finger pointed at the battery display; finally, I said, ‘ the computer power supply when the power went out,’ and got a good response. The lower shelf, of course, and I lifted a heavy one that is the top UPS they sell at the store, $215 with 1500 VA. Enough power to keep my network up for two hours, including powering my laptop and lamp. I can disconnect stuff and make it run longer if needed (the light, for example).

I saw that the new Barnes and Noble was next door; Dondrea had told me it had re-opened near Best Buy, but I had forgotten. Stepping back into the store, It was like visiting an old friend. I walked through the new store with a wide, and thus Covid-safe, layout. It uses an arena layout with partial walls breaking up the view–an excellent look, I thought.

I stopped by the magazines, which were many, and picked out something on American Archeology. Before the old store closed, the magazines were reduced as various publishing companies went under during the pandemic. I noticed some old friends are still missing (Wargames Illustrated still has to be ordered on eBay), but others are there. I will be back to write on my laptop with headphones again. I miss working at bookstores with desks.

Next, I traveled a few miles to lunch. Lunch was with a friend on work items. We discussed some future items. I am less pessimistic about the future and might even see some interesting opportunities at the shoe company.

Next, I returned to the office and attended a meeting that was packed into a tiny space. Everyone was talking over each other, but we got a general plan worked out. I then had to head out to the hummingbird house. I was there late, but the pharmacist was late to give the Covid boosters and flu shots. Susie was signed up for both (all covered by insurance). I brought in her passport and vaccination cards (Covid and the old yellow style we used before the pandemic–yes, people used to carry a vaccine card and have required shots to go to places, including inside the USA). We will place the documents in the hummingbird house as I like keeping the passport near the vax info.

We waited, but the pharmacist played connect the school buses, and I had a 3:30 meeting I needed to prepare for. So I kissed Susie goodbye, moved my car as the pharmacists had just arrived, and parked at the park nearby.

In the car sitting in the park, I met on Zoom on another issue at the shoe company. My friends were sorry I was not at Clubhouse as they came up to see me for the meetings–next time! We worked out the details, and soon, that meeting was in the books.

I drove the Gadget/Junk store off Cornelius Pass Road and got a power code. I did not get one with the laptop power supply I bought for a spare personal-use Windows machine. It was $3 for two used ones. Check, another thing done.

Air Volvo is nearly out of gas. I managed to outlast the tick-up and am back down to $5.39 again. More than most pay in the USA, but we do not have a sales tax, so that is the final price. Also, instead of having a national cost of gas at the wholesale level, the oil companies price in regions, and thus the west coast pays more to the oil companies than the midwest–that is, as they say, just messed up.

Another task on the critical path is done; check.

I stopped by the old Kinkos (now Fed Ex) and used their copiers to copy legal papers that my mother-in-law gave me in 2001. These are important to her, and I have an original copy (Susie’s copy), so I made copies. Next, I stopped by Aloha Post Office and mailed the papers to Michigan. Check!

I was tired, but the air cleared, and the sore throat and breathing issues faded. Finally, I made it home with sunny skies.

I did the chores of putting out the garbage, recycling, and making dinner. I cooked the second smoked porkchop and had that with leftover caesar salad and red cabbage salad. I watched some episodes of Lucifer for some laughs reaching season 3 while eating.

I unboxed the UPS and connected all the network hardware and the office computer items. It needs only to cover 35 Watts and can keep things going for more than two hours–excellent. So now we are adequately protected. It is a lead-acid battery and is good for 3-5 years. A rather old-school solution, but a reasonable price for the coverage, and I can recycle the batteries.

I wrote the blog after that. I am tired, as it has been a crazy couple of days.

Thanks for reading.

The smoke is worse, and the air quality is sinking. So we are in moderate headed to unhealthy air. I have a headache and a cough, but the beer seems to help. So I will go with that.

The morning started with me sleeping into 7:30ish. The pain in my head and legs and breathing issues all got me going. I was staggering but moving. I put my out-of-office notice on and then closed the work laptop for the day. I read my emails and text and took my time. No reason to hurry this morning as Susie’s appointment was at 12:40.

I was relieved to read a text that morning that Susie had recovered. This is from a text from Michelle; Michelle manages the homes. I also learned that Susan ate dinner last night and was back to her usual self in the early evening of Tuesday. Susie managed to sleep normally Tuesday night. I was worried that we were headed to a stroke or other medical issue–it was likely the bad air too. Susie was okay now.

I loaded up some paperwork for the doc and got in Air Volvo. The sky was white with smoke and mist. Mount Hood was gone, as was the Coastal Mountains. I could barely see more than a few ridges into the smoke. Everything smelled like a campfire.

Apparently, Beaverton Police and Traffic Court have been reading my blog as they have moved the photo radar van and the motorcycle cop to Scholls Ferry Road now–the road I use to avoid them. I do not care for playing hide-and-seek with cops and don’t like them checking folks speed out of rush hours where a slight speeding is likely from moving traffic and hills. But, I was traveling through Beaverton mostly today–tricked ’em.

I reached Susie’s place, hummingbird house, at 11 without events. I was too early, so we called Susie’s mother, Leta, and talked to her for a while. Leta, too, was relieved to see Susie back to herself. We finished, and Jennifer helped and got Susie popped into her wheelchair. Jennifer got Susie a weight: of 80+. This is a loss of 16 pounds since Susie came to hummingbird house and is a bit concerning. Susie did come to hummingbird house just out of hospice care, so we are still recovering. We will chat with the doc about this.

I brought Susie’s fav brown hat. She was very pleased to see it again and put it right on.

I lifted Susie with a little bit of Jennifer’s help to get Susie into the car. We crossed Old-Town Beaverton and traveled to the Legency office in the Cedar Mills Mall. We met the doc for the first time, as our previous doc had retired. Doc C had prepared for the meeting and read some of Susie’s chart, and I was pleased he was following what we needed. I will supply Ensure for Susie to help with the weight loss. In addition, Susie will get prescribed some Occupational Therapy for her writing and hand use. We discussed other medical details not to be included here. But I am happy we have a plan.

We needed a blood draw for the first time in a year, and Susie agreed to it. The gal who did the poke did excellent, and, while a slow bleed, the tiny vein worked–excellent.

After all the medical stuff, establishing a new doc, and getting labs, we headed to ice cream. We descended the elevator and rolled over to Straw and Salt Ice Cream. Susie had a scoop of coconut cream ice cream (soft) that was sort of bubble gum flavored; Susie loved it. I had my usual coffee with pecan ice cream in a waffle cone.

I returned Susie to the hummingbird house after being out for almost four hours. The 3-4PM traffic was thick. While we were stuck in traffic, we called folks, and they were happy to chat with Susie and me while we sat in Air Volvo going 10-15mph. I had loaded Susie and unloaded her and the wheelchair–a lot of exercise for me! I did one more unload at hummingbird house. Susie was tired, and I was not enjoying the poor air, so Jennifer took over and took Susie for a nap. I left with a kiss and a wave.

I tried my luck with Beaverton Old Town again and was back home in a reasonable time. I reheated my Spanish rice dinner I made a few days ago–I made a lot. I ate it while laughing at more episodes of Lucifer on NetFlix.

I decided to head to Beaverton to relax at Central Taps and have a few beers. Unfortunately, the air index is terrible, but I am trying to just get through it.

Thanks for reading. Keep breathing–it ain’t optional.

 

As I have Wednesday off and yesterday was a tough day, I left the blog to be written on Wednesday morning. I also slept in until 7:30ish. I had gone to bed early and fell right to sleep. Unfortunately, I woke a few times, and my right leg hurt all night–the first time that happened.

It was stressful as Susie was not feeling well and did not get up. She worried me as we were in the same months when the previous strokes happened. However, I learned this morning from Michelle, who runs the home, that Susie was back to normal about dinner time on Tuesday.

I will leave the narrative style today and cover the main events on Tuesday. It is good to try different styles.

First, the air was white today with smoke, smog, and mist. We started at moderate and were headed to worse. Rains start on Friday, but these look lighter (in the forecast) than our usual soaking October. It is possible that we will see no rain in some areas!

The day started as usual, and soon I was in the office building Clubhouse for Nike. This is off-campus and, while nice, is not as nice as working at Nike WHQ. I managed to arrive a few minutes early and without dodging school buses–I managed to be just a few minutes before they started collecting the kids and jamming the local traffic.

In Clubhouse, I met two visitors looking for places to sit, we have open seating, and I asked them what group they support; they are production support Infosys folks, and I led them to the seating area of the group they support. While we have open seating, folks do group in areas, and some desks are always picked by the same person–so it is sort of open seating. I told them where to get free coffee, as I am sure they were jetlagged coming from India.

Moving to the next happening, I was contacted a bit later in the morning that Susie was not feeling well and was not getting up. This is concerning, and I soon headed to the hummingbird house. Susie was still in her room and comfortable in bed. She did not feel well and did not want to get up. Susie was terribly thirsty, and I got her some water. She laid back and went back to sleep. I stayed an hour. I was worried it was a stroke, but it could just be an off day. Susie did want to call anyone, so I just took a photo to share of a weak smile and left worried.

I stopped by Jimmy Johns for a sandwich, and they had some vast to-go orders; I was told that they would not take my order for 15 minutes. I waited a bit, but they were truly busy making sandwiches and did not take my order. I left. I found a Western Burger at Carl’s Jr. and ate that in the parking lot listening to the Oregon Public Broadcasting show on local politics. They do local stuff every noon and repeat it at 7PM. I was trying to not worry.

Next, my Microsoft Outlook (email and calendar) is not correctly running on my Nike laptop, so I spent the afternoon with the Performance Bar working with the gal there, trying to fix it. The conclusion is that we need to reinstall it. As I am off on Wednesday, it would not be a good idea to start removing and reinstalling MS Office on Tuesday at 3PM. Until then, I can use Office.com to get the features I need.

Moving to the evening, I ordered dinner from GrubHub as I was stressed and did not know what might happen. It never showed. I finally got it canceled and refunded. I ordered again; it was so late that the original place was closing, and I got some Italian food that arrived at 9ish instead. My original order was all veggie–I went for Italian Sausage and pasta for the replacement–they were still open.

I watched the NetFlix show Lucifer episodes, finished season 2, and laughed throughout the show.

I went to bed early and did no writing as I could not get my focus back.